Hawaiian Pineapple Co. v. Saito

270 F. 749, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 2465
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 7, 1921
DocketNo. 3374
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 270 F. 749 (Hawaiian Pineapple Co. v. Saito) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hawaiian Pineapple Co. v. Saito, 270 F. 749, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 2465 (9th Cir. 1921).

Opinion

GILBERT, Circuit Judge.

On May 18, 1916, the appellant was engaged in the business of canning pineapples in the Hawaiian Islands. On that date a contract was entered into between the appellant and the appellee Saito for the sale of pineapples by Saito to the appellant for a period of four years therefrom. At that time Saito was raising pineapples upon ISO acres of land on the island of Oahu, which he held under leases. Later in the same year on July 1 and August 1, Saito acquired two other leasehold interests, upon which he grew and produced pineapples. All the pineapples which he produced, both upon his prior and subsequently acquired holdings, were sold and delivered to the appellant until about the end of January, 1918, when he ceased to deliver to the appellant the pineapples grown upon the subsequently acquired leaseholds, and soon thereafter he entered into a contract by which he agreed to sell and deliver those pineapples to the appellee Libby, McNeill & Libby. It was to enjoin such sale and delivery to Libby, McNeill & Libby that the present suit was brought by the appellant in the circuit court of Hawaii. That court sustained the appellant’s contention and enjoined the further sale of such pineapples to Libbjq McNeill & Libby. On 'appeal to the Supreme Court the decree of the circuit court was reversed, and the cause was remanded with instructions to dismiss the bill. Erom the decree of the Supreme Court the present appeal is taken.

[1] The appellee raises the question of the jurisdiction of this court to entertain the appeal, and cites Rumsey v. New York Life Ins. Co. (C. C. A.) 267 Fed. 554, in which we held that a decree of th,e Supreme Court of Hawaii, remanding a case for such further action compatible with the decision as might be necessary, was not a final decree, and was not appealable. In the present case the Supreme Court ordered that the decree appealed from be vacated and set aside, and that the permanent injunction be dissolved, and that the lower court be instructed to dismiss the complainant’s bill of complaint filed therein, “and to take such further and other proceeding prior or subsequent to the dismissal of the bill as may&e consistent with the opinion of this court in said cause.” We think the decree was final and appealable. There was no proceeding which the circuit court could take prior to the dismissal of the bill, and after the dismissal of the bill it is equally plain that no proceeding could be had pertaining to the merits of the controversy. '

[2] The appellee brings in question also, the jurisdiction of equity to entertain the cause of suit, contending that there was a complete and adequate remedy at law. It is true that equity will not decree the specific performance of a contract which relates to personalty in a case where compensation in damages furnishes á complete and satisfactory remedy. But the bill sets forth special circumstances, the allegations of which it is unnecessary here to repeat, which show that there was no adequate remedy at law, and we think the case comes clearly within the principles announced in Curtice Bros. Co. v. Catts, 72 N. J. Eq. 831, 66 Atl. 935, Gloucester, etc., Co. v. Russia Cement Co., 154 Mass. 92, 27 N. E. 1005, 12 L. R. A. 563, 26 Am. St. Rep. 214, Vail v. Osburn, 174 Pa. 580, 34 Atl. 315, White Marble Lime Co. v. [751]*751Consolidated Lumber Co., 205 Mich. 634, 172 N. W. 603, and Mutual Oil Co. v. Hills, 248 Fed. 257; 160 C. C. A. 335.

[3] The provisions of the. contract which are pertinent to the controversy are the following:

“The Pineapple Company agrees that during the term of four years beginning May .1, 1916, and ending April 30, 1020, it will handle and buy under the conditions as hereinafter detailed, and with such exceptions as are hereinafter stated, all the merchantable smooth cayenne pineapples that may be grown by the planter on his present holdings at Leilahua or elsewhere on the island of Oahu, or that he may own or control on the island of Oahu.
“The planter agrees that he will deliver to the Pineapple Company, under the terms and conditions and with the exceptions hereinafter contained, all the merchantable smooth cayenne pineapples that he may grow at Leilahua or elsewhere on the island of Oahu, or that he may own or control on the island of Oahu, during the term stated.”
“It is mutually agreed that the Pineapple Company will furnish f. o. t>. railroad ears at Leilahua, Oahu, lug boxes for the delivery of the fruit, and that the planter will deliver said fruit f. o. b. railroad cars at Leilahua, Oahu, in said lug boxes, and that said merchantable pineapples will be delivered in such condition of ripeness as may from time to time bo required or designated by the said Pineapple Company.”

It is the contention of the appellant that Saito was obligated to sell, not only the pineapples which lie grew on the land which he had at the time when the contract was made, but also all that he might grow upon any subsequently acquired lands during the term of the contract. The appellees, on the other hand, contend that the contract required Saito to sell and deliver only the pineapples which he might grow during the period of the contract on the lands which he had at the date of the contract. The appellant draws particular attention to the words “elsewhere on the island of Oahu,” as indicating that the contract was to cover pineapples grown on lands other than Saito’s “present holdings at Leilahua,” and contends that the words “that he may own or control on the island of Oahu” import futurity into the obligations, and indicate that the contract referred to not only the then holdings of Saito, but to holdings which he might afterwards acquire, and it is argued that the words “present holdings” may be added to the word “Leilahua” without changing the meaning or scope of Saito’s obligations, and that the sentence should read:

“Pineapples he may grow at Leilahua on ins present holdings or [which he may growj elsewhere on the island of Oahu, or pineapples that he may own or control on the island of Oahu during the term stated.”

At the time when the contract was made the appellant was engaged in raising pineapples upon about 6,000 acres of its own land, and it agreed, under contracts made in the early months of that year, to purchase from various independent growers the product of about 1,000 acres in addition to its own. The contracts with the independent growers were made on printed forms prepared by the appellant, and the only blanks left to be filled in the paragraphs of the contract which have been quoted above were blanks for the names of the places where the holdings were situated, so that in Saito’s contract the only blanks were the blanks where the word “Leilahua” was subsequently [752]*752inserted. The words “or elsewhere on the island of Oahu, or that he may own or control on the island of Oahu,” were in the printed form of all such contracts, and they evidently, were not employed with any special view to the situation of Saito as a pineapple grovler. The contract, it may be conceded, is not free from ambiguity. But the ambiguity is of the appellant’s own creation. The appellant prepared the printed forms of the contract, with blanks thereafter to be filled in, and took them to Saito to obtain his signature, thereto. Upon well-settled principles, the language of the contract is to be construed most strongly against the appellant.

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Bluebook (online)
270 F. 749, 1921 U.S. App. LEXIS 2465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hawaiian-pineapple-co-v-saito-ca9-1921.